An odd title for a somewhat odd video. Maybe it should have been called “Dreaming For Design”. The mid-1950s was a dreamy time indeed, and nobody had bigger dreams for the World of the Future than GM. In this short film, set at the 1956 Motorama, GM shares its dreams most vividly. Maybe it should have been sharing them with a shrink, instead of the American public.

You overestimate the anachronism of the music. In 1956, nobody over the age of 18 was listening to rock and roll, nobody white was listening to the blues, and jazz was a little too out there for the average GM customer (who probably drove a two-stroke Saab, assuming they owned a car in the first place). The soundtrack is heavily lifted from 50’s Broadway show tune style. Which was what the respectable middle class person listened to.

I am not sure I agree with you. The score struck me as the sort of overly dramatic “highbrow” music that would have been in movies 10 or 20 years earlier. You are right on the rock and roll, but a lot of middle america was well schooled on the music of Ellington, Basie, Sinatra, Kenton, Nelson Riddle and many others. Most TV scores and movie scores of the mid 50s were much more jazz-influenced than this GM piece.

There really was a time when this country was optimistic about the future. Nowhere was that more evident than in the automotive world.

Glamorous cars meant the latest and greatest of almost everything; appliances, homes, radios, TVs, Hi-Fi stereo, life in the suburbs and superhighways, Vista-Dome streamlined passenger trains and jet-propelled commercial aircraft.

Men even began to stop wearing hats…!

Somewhere in the early 1970’s that optimism began to seriously fade. Perhaps it began earlier, but my perception tells me by 1973, compared to 1963 before the Kennedy assasination, a slow downward spiral began that really manifested itself by the early 70’s. At least as a young man, that’s when it hit me.

Loved the Chevrolet Impala showcar. Too bad that one was never put into production.

To have that Oldsmobile convertible, Pontiac hardtop sedan and Buick convertible now…

The “Tomorrow” song and accompanying dark set at the end of the video are somewhat creepy.

The Kitchen of the Future proves that there is nothing more dated than yesterday’s high tech.

The main “actress” is cute, especially in her tennis outfit about halfway through the video, but her Shirley MacLaine haircut isn’t doing her any favors. If she’s still alive, she’s probably a great-grandmother and in her early 80s. (She has to be at least 25 in the video.)

With me, it’s the Pontiac Club de Mer – I remember building a 1:24 scale model of it back in the late 50’s. That Impala was incredibly restrained given what was about to happen with auto styling in the next year or two. And that Oldsmobile? Yeech!!!!!!!

The female dancer’s name is Tad Tadlock. The only reason I know this is because the video is actually listed in IMDb. A company called Something Weird Video put this out on VHS years ago together with some related videos, but this is by far the most beautiful, over-the-top, sexist, colorful, campiest one of the bunch, with amazingly high production values. This mini-musical really does reflect the time in which it was made. It was all just a crazy dream.

“Better get her into the kitchen quick”. “Just like a man”. Well, they needed some way, however awkward, to transition from cars to appliances. Frigidaire, of course, was owned by General Motors at the time. But we still can’t bake a cake that comes out of the oven with lit candles already on it.

“Body Heat”, “Heaven’s Gate”, some Broadway, and a long career as a dancer. That mid-point “dance of the future” gives a good idea of what she was capable of, when she wasn’t being bowderlized down with typical 50’s choreography. Dance definitely improved in the following decades.

these kind of projects still happen occasionally in advertising. it’s an example of a client with too much money and no taste and a egomaniac creative with no talent on the advertising side. everybody working on it knows that it sucks but they are all so happy to work on something with a real budget that nobody wants to screw the pooch by telling the boss what they really think.

Little do they know that in the future they can look forward cars from GM like the… Cadiilac Cimarron, or the GM A-body, or the N-body, or the W-body… Some dream they turned out to be. Especially the GM designers who dream of this video would be utterly dejected had they known.

In the 1950’s when I was a boy, it was a big deal when the new model cars came out. My mother, being very austere and practical, never paid attention to cars or any other consumer item. Only when a refrigerator or other appliance broke did she venture out with any intention to spend hard earned money. I can recall her taking a 1930’s toaster to an electrical shop to see what the repair cost would be.

Her sister, my dear aunt, was the opposite. Although frugal, she would drag my uncle to every new car dealer within driving distance for brochures and freebees. This also applied to grand openings of supermarkets, gas stations, and any other business. She had no children, so I always was the benefactor of her and my uncle’s scavenger hunts. I was supplied with an endless supply of car brochures, balloons, ball points, and other goodies. I even had a few promo cars, two I can remember, a 61 Monterey, and 69 Cyclone. Too bad none of the stuff she gave me lasted into the present. Probably, some things would be collectible.

Back in the 50’s and 60’s, a great time in America, most families could at least taste a few morsels of the good life without mortgaging themselves for life or bankruptcy.

You have no idea how collectible those promo cars can be. I’ve got a pretty complete set of Chevrolets, 1953-1965. Last time I have them appraised, I theoretically get myself a new 3-series for the lot.

“Design for Hallucinating” might be more to the point. And I suspect the uncredited director was the young Roger De Bris.

I too first saw this on MST3K (link posted by previous commenter), which is highly hilarious. But even without the commentary by Joel and the ‘bots (they call the Hepburnesque heroine “Holly﻿ GoWEIRDly”, among other things), this big-budget promo short is a pretty bizarre piece of entertainment in its own right. And considering it runs for nigh on 10 minutes, and was financed by an automaker, it’s amazing how little of the footage is of CARS!